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well, for one, I was in a depressed/philosophical (bad grades, almost got in 3 fights, etc) mood last night, and so I guess that would explain that. Also, the concept of death fascinates me since human beings are the only creatures on Earth that know that one day they will die, and so few people ever do think about it, thinking "oh, it'll never happen to me" when they hear about a plane crash or drive-by shooting. As this is a martial arts forum I thought that perhaps this would be one of the best places to ask, since isn't budo really about life and death?

-Nick

---
Nick Porter
"Do not fall into the trap of the artisan who boasts twenty years of experience, when in fact he has had only one year of experience-- twenty times."

That certainly explains alot Nick. Glad you didn't get into those fights otherwise you might be dead.

Death..., what is that,eh? No one knows..., everyone will find out. Whether by drive-by, plane crash, perhaps more satisfyingly by old age we will all get there...., as you well know.

I forget the authors name, he wrote "Bhuddism, Plain and Simple". Sitting at his terminally ill friends bedside, seeing that his friend harboured alot of fear about dying, he said "Don't worry, death is thus." His friend died peacefully that night. Perhaps he meant death is no different in reality than living. Maybe to be here, now is to know death as fully as you ever will.

Death is the shifting of your conciousness of being from this physical plane to a metaphysical one.

In other words, transfer of the soul from the world as we know it to heaven/nirvana, purgatory, hell/gehenna, and, depending on your religious beliefs, a variety of other names for the possible destination points.

Since, whether we like it or not, everyone dies, it is just as natural birth. Birth brings our conciousness into this world, and death takes our conciousness out. The meaning of death is simply to end this journey we call life, the 'train we board' to take us to the next stage of existence, I suppose. It is simply a matter of when and how.

No implications Nick, other than perhaps the implications of fighting. We talk alot on the internet but few of us, I think, realize the deadly potential of physical confrontation. (Another worn out thread that one.)
Suffice it to say it's good that you didn't end up in a fight.

I've got to support Nick's morbid fascination. Both in christianity and in Buddhism there is this concept of not being able to live properly until you have died. Sounds odd, but I think what they're getting at is something like this...

there was a man who was good at rowing and a man who was good at swimming, about to cross this particularly hazardous part of the Yangtze. The rower got partway across and became too scared by the currents, he became agitated and the boat turned over.

The man who could swim went this way and that across the river, the boat carried by the currents, but at no time did he become agitated and he eventually reached the other side.

[I think Chuang Tzu wrote this, though I'm sure I have altered it many respects].